Garment hanger



Apri@ 24, E934. F. H. DEKNATEL i l955,792

GARMENT HANGER Filed Jan. 9, 1953 Patented Apr. 24,1934

PATENT. OFFICE 1,955,792 /GARMENT HANGER Frederick H. Deknatel, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Mackie-Lovejoy' Manufacturing Company, a

corporation of Illinois v,Application January9, 1933, Serial No. 650,939

2 Claims. (Cl. 223-68) This invention relates to improvements in garment hangers of the type in which a pair of clamping members or jaws are hinged together and are moved to clamping position by a lever. One object of the invention is to provide a de-` vice of this character with a spring which tends to hold the jaws apart so as to facilitate insertion of a garment when the device is to be used. i

Another object is to provide one of the jaws with a roller to be engaged by the clamping lever when theV latter is swung to clamping position whereby very little eiort is required to eiect 'a rm clamping engagement of the garment by the clamping members and whereby wearing away of the lever caused by its sliding over the part engaged thereby, is largely eliminated. f

In the accompanying drawing I have illustrated a commercial embodiment of the invention wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective View with the jaws in open position;

Fig. 2 is a section on a vertical plane near the center with the jaws open; and

Fig. 3 is a similar view with the jaws closed.

The jaws or clamping members, as shown, are made preferably of strips of wood 10 lined with felt pads 11 on their inner surfaces at the ends, the middle portions being preferably made thinner so that the clamping engagement is effected primarily by the ends of the clamping members. Said members may, of course, be made of other material, and are connected by a hinge formed from a heavy wire or metal rods of small diameter, the axis of the hinge being shown at 12. There are two such rods 13 and 14, having their ends received in openings in the wooden clamping members, the rod 14 being bent around portions of the rod 13, in the form of helices, as shown at 15, permitting the parts to swivel about said axis 12. The middle portion of each rod is bent down into substantially U shaped form, as shown at 16 and 17.' The clamping lever 18, which may also be made of a rod of small diameter, has one end, 19, bent around the horizontal span constituting theibase of the U shaped portion 17 and pivots about the same. The corresponding horizontal span of the other U shaped portion 16 has a roller 20 on it, formed preferably of a strip of metal bent around to form a short cylinder. When the lever 18 is swung about its pivot 17, it engages the roller 20 and rides over the same while drawing the clamping jaws together into yielding engagement, as shown in Fig. 3. In i5 this position, the rod 18 is substantially vertical and its upper end may be bent to form a hook 21 by which the hanger may be supported in the usual manner.

Said jaws are normally held in the open position shown in Figs. 1 and 2 by means of a spring C3 .22, the middle portion of which may be in the form of a helix coincident with the axis 12, the ends of the spring being bent around the base of the U shaped portions as shown at 23 and 24 in Fig. 1,` one end terminating at one end of the roller 20 and the other end terminating at one side of the bent around end 19 of the rod'18. Thus the jaws .tend to remain in open position Y so that if the hanger asa whole is held inone hand, the trousers, or other garment, may be inserted between the clamping jaws with the other hand and said jaws pressed toward each other, after which the clamping lever may be swung upwardly to clamp thegarment firmly in'place, the wire hinge members bein'g distorted some 75 what in this nal clamping position, whereby they exert a strong spring pressure, which, together with the friction pads, prevent the garment from slipping. The clamping lever rides freely over the roller as said lever is being swung to clamp- 90 ing position, providing an effective leverage and making it very easy to clamp the jaws together, even though, before clamping, they are held apart at a considerable angle. The roller also reduces wear, prolonging the life of the device. The lever, it will be noted, is bent in such a way as to form a hook at the bottom, the curvature being such that said lever after it has ridden over the roller almost to its iinal position, passing the dead center so as to resist the action of the spring in tending to press the jaws apart. In other words, the lower end of said lever serves to lock the parts together.

In referring to certain parts as in horizontal position, such terms are used merely in a relative sense and as a convenient means of description, as the operation is, of course, independent oi' the position of the parts, although the device usually hangs from a support above it over which it is hooked. The hook, however, need not necessarily constitute part of the clamping member as it may be otherwise formed.

I claim:

1. A garment hanger comprising tworods, one of which is bent around the other at two horizontally aligned portions to form a hinge,"two clamping members each of which has openings therein receiving the two ends of the corresponding rod, the middle portions of each of said rods being U shaped, a clamping lever rotatably mounted on one of said U shaped portions, a roller mounted on the other of said U shaped portions to be engaged by said clamping lever when the latter is swung to vertical position, a coiled spring in alignment with said hinged portions and having one end coiled around one of said U shaped portions and the other end around the other of said U shaped portions to hold the clamping members apart.

2. A. garment hanger comprising tWo rods coiled around each other at two horizontally aligned portions to form a. hinge, clamping members each. carried by one of said rods, the middle 

